


Outcasts

by ichor (sbzpruiosnejre)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-27 04:57:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20040286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sbzpruiosnejre/pseuds/ichor
Summary: Remus doesn't know what he expects when Lily invites him to meet her family, but it isn't finding mutual respect with her sister.





	Outcasts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dollipop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dollipop/gifts).

> For your birthday <3

The door opens to a girl who looks distinctly alike and entirely different to Lily.

"Who are you?" her clipped voice asks with suspicion.

"Remus - Remus Lupin," he answers, confused. "You're Petunia, Lily's sister?"

"Yes." She still seems wary. If there's one thing he's good at spotting, it's that wariness he's used to feeling himself. "Well?" She seems to be waiting for something, though he can't imagine what.

"May I come in?" he asks. "Lily invited me around. To work on some homework."

The mention of homework makes her tense. Her eyebrows pinch together and she looks at him with what might be fear, but smells like jealousy.

He tries to ignore his senses, to bury them. They're stronger closer to the full moon, and though it's a week away, he doesn't want a reminder of just how out of place he is. A werewolf in a muggle place. He should feel more comfortable, shouldn't he? They don't believe in his kind, not really.

"I won't be any bother," he presses. "It's only essays."

She must know about magic, because this seems to calm her.

"Fine. She's in the living room." Petunia steps aside to allow him in, and shrinks back when he gets too close, though he gives her plenty of space. He's used to that behaviour, so he mumbles an apology without thinking about it. She doesn't say anything more as he goes through to find Lily.

* * *

The Evans' insist he stay for dinner. As much as he wants to refuse, he knows his parents will hope - and maybe assume - that he'll eat with his friend. James has invited him over a few times, but this is the first time Lily's ever asked him round. It's not like he'll be stranded. He took the Knight Bus there, and he'll take the Knight Bus back. Easy.

Petunia scraps her chair away from him when he sits next to her.

"How do you find Hogwarts?" Mrs Evans says. She tells him to call her Peony, but he can't do that. It seems disrespectful somehow. "Lily says you're top of your class."

Remus smiles. "That's a lie - Lily's always getting higher marks than me," he says, and Lily shakes her head at his modesty. "I like it though. I never went to school before Hogwarts - my mam taught me. It took a while to settle in. Lily was a massive help. You were," he adds as she shakes her head again. "She has the patience of a saint."

"Shush," Lily says, but she's smiling now. "Remus works harder than any other Gryffindor. He's always helping me with homework. Especially History of Magic. He's going to pass all of his NEWTs next year."

He goes to protest, then thinks better of it when he sees how... out of place Petunia seems. Being left out of things isn't unfamiliar for him. "What's your school like, Petunia?" he asks softly. "I--"

She cuts him off. "Not like yours." She's abrasive, blunt to a point. Her father scolds her gently.

"It's alright," Remus says. "I just wondered. I always wished I _didn't_ have magic. When kids walked past my house to go to school, I wanted to be with them."

Petunia looks at him oddly.

"Magic must make everything so much easier though," Mrs Evans says, confused. "There's such a lot more for you to learn. And do. We're so proud of Lily. We know it must be hard, when none of us have magic."

He shakes his head. "It's two different worlds," he tells them, and looks at his plate. It's going to get cold, but he doesn't mind that. "There are downsides to magic as well. My mam isn't magic, she always tried to help me as well, she still does, but I want to know about... non-magic as well." 'Muggle' isn't a bad word, not like the other M word, but he doesn't want to say it here. Not around them. "I wanted to go to school and learn about _science_ and do sums and do art. With people, with kids my age. Even at Hogwarts, I want to know how your world works. Magic is interesting, but when you're used to it, it's just... _there_. I'd rather learn things I don't know anything about. Challenge myself, you know?"

Lily's quiet, but her parents give murmuring noises of agreement. Petunia is staring at him.

He turns to her. "So what's your school like?"

And she tells him. About her classes, about English and Maths and the different types of Science, and Textiles and Music. He listens to every word and as she speaks he thinks of how much pride she has. He doesn't think she'd be a Slytherin, though there's nothing wrong with being ambitious, and it doesn't matter if she's a muggle either. Maybe she'd be a Gryffindor, because when she talks about her friends she talks about how close they are. Or Hufflepuff, maybe, because she's so hard-working, talking about how she's leaving sixth-form and thinking about college, and he has to ask what college is, and then she's telling him about another school, the one she wants to go to.

* * *

Before he leaves, he sits in the lounge as Mrs Evans fetches him - she _insisted_ and he gave in again - some cupcakes to take home. Mr Evans has gone to work, said goodbye already, and Lily went to the bathroom. Petunia sits in an armchair across from him on the sofa.

"You're not as bad as that Potter boy," she says. "Or Snake." It's not as derisive as he expects.

"James's'okay," he mumbles. He can see why some people don't think so. As much as he tells him and Sirius to lay off of Snape, they don't. But then, Snape dishes it back just as horrid. "Snake-- Snape's not always awful either." They don't need to know about dark magic. Lily's only recently cut him off, after all. He's surprised James has been around though.

"You think it's okay to call people _muggle_ and _mud_ then?" she asks sharply.

He shakes his head. "Muggle's not a bad thing, but you shouldn't say it as an insult either. Mud's an insult, though." Remus gazes at her. "Some people - like Snape - they're raised hating people who have no magic. Doesn't matter if they're born to it or not. And sometimes they hate people who do have magic, but they don't see them as... as _deserving_ it. But there's no such thing as deserving magic. You have it or you don't. You want it or you don't." He scratches the back of his neck. "Then there are people like James who go the wrong way about believing the opposite. They try and be supportive but they make mistakes, or they treat the haters bad, which only makes them worse."

Petunia stands. "Then what are you?"

Remus pauses for a long moment, long enough that she doesn't look comfortable just standing in silence. "I guess I'm in the middle."

"The middle?"

"I don't hate people without magic, or with magic, or hate the people who hate them."

He rises, meeting her eyes.

"Why?" she asks.

"I don't know," he admits. "I just get what it's like to be on the receiving end. I'd rather live in peace."

She doesn't say anything more, but she doesn't need to. When Lily comes back and shows him out, Petunia nods farewell at him.


End file.
